"For by grace are ye saved through
faith..." Eph 2:8.
The salvation that is by the grace of God, which is free
and sovereign, must be the ETERNAL salvation, in contrast to the TIMELY
salvation that God's children must work out for themselves with fear and trembling.
This eternal salvation that is by the free and sovereign grace of God is
THROUGH faith.
Pray tell, THROUGH whose faith? Faith exercised by you?
I hear your pious and humble disclaimer loud
and clear... that the faith exercised by you is not your own, it is a saving
grace worked in you... in that sense it is a gift of God; it is not your own.
But is that the faith spoken of in Eph 2:8?
Is your eternal salvation through the faith
that was worked in you and EXERCISED by you, then?
Did you exercise your faith as the result of
the eternal salvation ALREADY bestowed upon you by God's free and sovereign
grace; OR
Did you exercise your faith in order to have the eternal salvation
bestowed to you, or something else?
If the former, then your faith plays NO role
whatsoever in your eternal salvation.
If the latter, then eternal salvation is no
more by free grace; it is conditioned upon your act of believing, WHICH IS ONLY
POSSIBLE if the indwelling Spirit work that grace within the heart. But how is
that possible, i.e with the Holy Spirit indwelling in the heart and working
that grace of faith, if eternal salvation has not been bestowed by God's free
and sovereign grace?
Whatever, could you please tell us exactly what the place or role is of your act of believing in your eternal salvation by God's free and sovereign grace?
Does your Bible still speak of the faith OF -
OF - OF Jesus Christ in your eternal salvation? If it doesn't, throw that
translation away! So many have perverted that glorious gospel truth and twisted
it into faith IN - IN - IN Jesus Christ in your eternal salvation.
It is plain and easy to see that your faith
IN - IN - IN Jesus Christ and the faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ are worlds
apart. The former is the ground and foundation of eternal salvation, and the
latter is the evidence and manifestation of that salvation.
Ro 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which
is by faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:
for there is no difference:
Ga 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ, even we
have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith OF - OF
- OF Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified.
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith OF
- OF - OF Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
"Even the righteousness of God which is
by faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ" - how is the provision of God's
righteousness related to the faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ EXCEPT the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ in rendering perfect obedience to all the laws of
God.
Righteousness is secured SOLELY through the
faithfulness of Christ's perfect and complete obedience to the laws of God.
And that righteousness is the sole ground of
justification by God's free and sovereign grace.
All but a few have entirely forgotten about,
and rejected the faith OF - OF - OF Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation.
They revel in their own faith, their acts of faith..
